Besides a conduct book, a translation, and a pamphlet, Sarah Green wrote most fictional forms available to her: novels in several modes, stories, romances, and most notably mock-romances. She was one of the ten most prolific novelists of 1800-19 (and not all of her nearly twenty titles are discussed here). Like Jane Austen, another mocker of the conventions of women's fiction, she was steeped in the writers she laughed at. Her opinions are strictly conservative; yet she ranges freely in subject-matter, creates lively and spirited heroines, and leavens the weight of moral judgement with the play of irony. Her career spanned the years 1790-1825, and she clearly took it seriously. She began putting her name on title-pages in about 1810.

Milestones

The date of SG's birth (in Ireland, it was said) is unknown. Even if she began publishing at an early age, she must probably have been born by about 1770.

By October 1825 SG published what seems to be her last novel, Parents and Wives; or, Inconsistency and Mistakes, with her name and an extensive listing of previous titles.

SG's date of death has not been discovered; it was probably after the appearance of her last known publication in 1825.